Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
What is the most exciting aspect of your work? Anna Matsuishi Pattison received her
Traveling and teaching hands-on advanced periodontal instrumen- BS degree in Dental Hygiene from the
tation courses around the world. Basic instrumentation skills and University of Southern California and
ultrasonic instrumentation are taught and practiced everywhere but her MS degree in Dental Hygiene from
there are very few teachers or practitioners who have ever been Columbia University. She has been an
able to take an advanced course that focuses on access, adaptation Associate Professor at USC for over 30
and scaling of difficult problem areas such as deep distal or palatal years and has served as Chair of the
pockets, line angles and furcations. When I teach the advanced Department of Dental Hygiene. Ms.
instrumentation course, the rapid improvement and gratitude of Pattison has been a featured speaker
these clinicians is extremely rewarding and renews my resolve to throughout then US, Asia, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. She
keep on traveling and teaching. is currently the Co-Director with her husband, Dr. Gordon Pattison,
of the Pattison Institute which offers lectures and hands-on instru-
What do you believe our profession should know about mentation workshops throughout the U.S. and abroad. In 2005, she
periodontal disease in 2010? received the Pfizer-ADHA Excellence in Dental Hygiene Award and
Regardless of adjunctive antimicrobial therapies such as local the USC School of Dentistry Alumnus of the Year Award. In 2006
delivery antibiotics, subgingival irrigation or lasers, the keystone of she received the California Society of Periodontists Award. In 2009
good periodontal therapy still is, and has always been, thorough she was selected to be inducted into the USC School of Dentistry
debridement of calculus and biofilm. Looking for a fast, easy way Hall of Fame. Anna is currently editor-in-chief of Dimensions of
out and shifting the focus away from meticulous root debridement Dental Hygiene.
is a dangerous path. Dental hygienists, who lose their focus and do
not develop advanced skills, run the risk of losing their positions to
lesser educated individuals.
Pharmacology references continued from page 11
I have heard some dentists say, “I can teach a monkey to scale.”
9. Tonetti MS, D’Aiuto F, Nibali L, et al. Treatment of periodontitis and endothelial
After 40 years of teaching dental and dental hygiene students, I function. N Engl J Med. 2007;356(9): 911-20.
know that I can teach any student to gross scale with an ultrasonic
10. The American Academy of Periodontology (AAP). J. Periodontol. 2007;71: 125-40.
scaler and place Arestin® in a short period of time. However, I can
11. Tomás I, García-Caballero L , Cousido MC, Limeres J, Álvarez M, Diz P.
only teach a small number of students to be very highly skilled Evaluation of chlorhexidine substantivity on salivary flora by epifluorescence
at advanced periodontal scaling and root planing. Our profession microscopy. J Oral Dis. 2009;16(6): 428-33.
needs to be recognized for special knowledge and exceptional skills 12. Palombo EA. Traditional medicinal plant extracts and natural products with
that are not easily acquired. activity against oral bacteria: potential application in the prevention and
treatment of oral diseases. eCAM. 2009;1-15.
Periodontal disease is not simple and it is not easy to treat
13. Food and Health Agricultural Organization of the United Nations and World
effectively. Excellent treatment requires intensive initial therapy and Health Organization. Guidelines for the evaluation of probiotics in foods. Joint
constant vigilance during a lifetime of maintenance. Hygienists who FAO/WHO Working Group Report on Drafting Guidelines for the Evaluation of
oversimplify periodontal treatment do a great disservice to their Probiotics in Food. 2002. Available from: ftp://ftp.fao.org/es/esn/food/
wgreport2.pdf
patients and to the dental hygiene profession as a whole.
14. Krasse P, Carlsson B, Dahl C, Paulsson A, Nilsson A, Sinkiewicz G. Decreased gum
Please share a memorable experience from your bleeding and reduced gingivitis by the probiotic Lactobacillus reuteri.
professional career. Swed Dent J. 2006;30(2): 55-60.
From 1973 to 1975, I shared an office and taught dental students 15. GUM PerioBalance. A breakthrough in oral healthcare. 2009. Available from:
http://www.periobalance.com/default.aspx.
with Dr. Esther Wilkins at the Tufts School of Dental Medicine in
16. Evoraplus. Healthy gums and teeth. 2009. Available from: http://evoraplus.com/
Boston. What an experience to be able to teach with and assist the index.php?option=com_content&view=section&layout=blog&id=10<emid-57
“Guru” of Dental Hygiene! We worked together so well that we 17. Sunde PT, Olsen I, Enersen M, Grinde B. Patients with severe periodontitis and
developed a deep professional and personal friendship that has subgingival Epstein-Barr virus treated with antiviral therapy. J Clin Vir. 2008;42:
lasted for 37 years. We now lecture together in a continuing educa- 176-8.
tion course that allows us to travel together all over the country. 18. Sahin S, Saygun I, Kubar A, Slots J. Periodontitis lesions are the main source of
salivary cytomegalovirus. Oral Micro Immunol. 2009;24: 340-2.
Dr. Wilkins’ influence on me and almost every other hygienist in the
19. Liu P-F, Zhu W-H, Huang C-M. Vaccines and photodynamic therapies for oral
country has been profound. She continues to inspire me to do my microbial-related disease. Curr Drug Metab. 2009;10(1): 90-4.
best to keep working and contributing to our profession.